Democratic Rep. Bishop Wins Last House Race

Long Island businessman Randy Altschuler, a Republican, conceded Wednesday morning to Rep. Tim Bishop, ending what had been the last undecided House race in the country.

Reps. Steve Israel, left and Tim Bishop wave to supporters on Election Night at the Islandia Marriott in Islandia, N.Y. (AP Photo/Kathy Kmonicek)

Mr. Altschuler trailed Mr. Bishop by just 263 votes in New York’s first congressional district, on the eastern end of Long Island. The two campaigns had been fighting over a dwindling number of absentee ballots, but the numbers made it unlikely that Mr. Altschuler could close the gap.

In announcing his decision, Mr. Altschuler congratulated Mr. Bishop in a written statement and said he would not support a hand recount of all the ballots, saying that would “place an unnecessary burden on the taxpayers of Suffolk County.’’

Mr. Altschuler survived a bruising Republican primary, and appeared to have lost the general election on election night when the initial count gave Mr. Bishop a lead of more than 3,000 votes. But the next day, election officials announced they had made a mistake, and subsequent counting briefly gave Mr. Altschuler a narrow lead. As the absentee and military ballots came in, however, Mr. Bishop managed to hold onto a razor-thin lead out of nearly 200,000 votes cast.

Mr. Bishop’s victory more than a month after Election Day is one of the few bright spots for New York House Democrats who otherwise took a beating at the polls last month, losing six House seats, more than any other state in the country.

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